The Sept. 27 killing of He Ting Fu during the attempted robbery of a medical pot garden he was tending on Carbondale Road near Ione riveted attention to the dangers in growing such a high-value crop. Five men from the Sacramento area are in jail facing murder charges in the killing.

But Amador County officials said they already were getting complaints about the proliferation of marijuana growers in the county months before Fu died in the high-profile gun battle. And they were already working on proposed regulations.

"I think we have a pretty good handle on the concerns - the odor and the safety and the camping," said Susan Grijalva, the county's planning director. "When that happened (in September), it brought a broader public awareness to it."

Often, those who grow marijuana camp out nearby. Grijalva said that can become a sanitation problem when the campers fail to properly dispose of human waste.

Perhaps the most common complaint from those who live near growers is the skunky odor of plants as they near maturity.

Connie Hinshaw of River Pines raised the issue during the Nov. 22 meeting of the Amador County board of supervisors.

"We have a very nice little town park. We also have a grower right across the street," she said. "We got feedback from people who are taking their kids to that park, late summer, early fall, that they wouldn't be bringing their kids back for a while because the smell was so overwhelming."

That day, supervisors voted unanimously to direct county staff to draft regulations to help soften the impact of marijuana growing on those nearby. The board also approved a 45-day ban on outdoor medical marijuana cultivation.

Grijalva said she hopes to bring a proposed ordinance early next year and to have the rules in place before the next growing season begins in spring. Grijalva said she also will consult with law enforcement, medical marijuana growers and health care professionals as she drafts the ordinance. Among other things, the ordinance might specify that pot gardens have to be a certain distance away from schools and parks.

Amador County resident and medical pot user David Jack said he sympathizes with the need to control garden odor, and to reduce the chances that visible gardens will attract violence.

"I believe the problem we have in this county is a bunch of greedy people," Jack said. "They are creating a problem for qualified medical marijuana users."

Amador County supervisors said they have no intention of preventing legitimate patients from growing a few plants for their own use.

Amador County Counsel Gregory Gillott said medical marijuana farms have become a problem throughout California. He said Fresno, El Dorado, Glenn and Lassen counties all have similar bans on outdoor growing.